SPEAKERS
Plenary Speakers
Dr Radha Nagarajan Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Cloud Optics Group Marvell
Talk Title: Silicon Photonics Light Engines for Highly Integrated Optical Interconnects
Abstract:
Large scale deployments of AI data centers have pushed the speed of optical interconnects from 800Gbit/s to 1.6Tbit/s and beyond, while placing a premium on power, performance, and latency. In this talk, we will discuss the use of 3D heterogeneous integration, on silicon photonics, to enable low energy, high density, high speed optical interconnects for these deployments. Heterogeneous integration, where separately manufactured electronic and photonic components are assembled on to an active silicon photonics interposer to construct a Light Engine, is the key to highly compact optical interconnects for both scale-up and scale-out applications in AI data centers.
Bio:
Dr. Nagarajan is currently the Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of Marvell’s Cloud Optics Group . At Marvell, he manages the development of the company’s optical platform products and technology. Concurrently, he is a Visiting Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore. He received his B.Eng. from NUS, M.Eng. from the University of Tokyo, and Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, all in Electrical Engineering. Dr. Nagarajan’s other recognitions include the IEEE/LEOS Aron Kressel Award, the IPRM Award and the Optica David Richardson Medal for breakthrough work in the development and manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits. He was named to Electro Optics’ The Photonics100 in 2024 which honors the industry’s most innovative people. He has been awarded more than 250 US patents and is a Fellow of Optica, IEEE, and IET.
Dr Haisheng Rong Senior Principal Scientist Intel
Talk Title: Silicon Photonics for Optical Compute Interconnect
Abstract:
Traditional electrical off-package I/O solutions for high-value compute silicon (e.g., CPUs, GPUs, FPGAs, and ASICs) are facing enormous scaling challenges in meeting the ever-increasing bandwidth demands. Silicon Photonics is one of the most promising technologies to circumvent these challenges and provides a viable path for high bandwidth density and energy-efficient optical-compute-interconnect. This talk will focus on high-speed silicon photonic DWDM transceivers with integrated lasers, optical amplifiers, silicon modulators, and photodetectors co-packaged with CMOS electronic drivers and receivers to meet future optical I/O demands for AI/ML.
Bio:
Dr. Haisheng Rong is a Senior Principal Scientist with Intel Labs, where he leads pioneering research and development in silicon photonics technology for next-generation high-speed and energy-efficient Optical Compute Interconnect (OCI) applications. His career spans various domains within optical and laser technologies, including optical information processing, laser spectroscopy, laser interferometer gravitational-wave observatory (LIGO), and fiber optical communications. His outstanding contributions to silicon photonics have earned him numerous accolades, including the Scientific American 50 Award, Intel Achievement Award, Intel Labs Gordy Award, Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award, and the Photonics 100 Award. He holds over 50 U.S. patents and has authored more than 120 scientific publications. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Nankai University in China and his Ph.D. from Heidelberg University in Germany. Dr. Rong is a Fellow of IEEE, Optica, and SPIE.
Invited Speakers
Asst Prof Sanghoon Chae Nanyang Technological University Singapore
Talk Title: On-chip Integration of 2D Materials with Si Photonics for Tunable Nonlinear Processing
Abstract:
Chip-scale visible light sources are crucial for applications in optical sensing, metrology, communications, and precision atomic and molecular spectroscopy. Traditional gain media for visible light emission, such as III-V semiconductors and quantum dots, face significant challenges due to their complex fabrication and integration processes. In this work, we explore an alternative approach: leveraging second harmonic generation (SHG) and sum frequency generation (SFG) of 2D material to produce stable, continuous visible light from micrometer-scale devices by integrating the 2D van der Waals material onto microring cavity. Two-dimensional NbOBr2 not only facilitates efficient SHG due to its high second-order susceptibility but also offers nonvolatile tunable light emission through ferroelectric domain switching under an applied DC bias. The incorporation of NbOBr2 onto a silicon photonic platform represents a significant advancement in the field, offering a novel pathway for next-generation tunable visible light generation and signal processing technologies.
Bio:
Dr. Sanghoon Chae is a Nanyang Assistant Professor at the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (EEE) and the School of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) at Nanyang Technological University (NTU). He received his B.S (2010) and Ph.D (2014) in Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Korea. Then he worked in Columbia University from 2016 to 2021 as a Postdoctoral Research Scientist. Dr. Chae’s research primarily focuses on understanding novel optoelectronic phenomena in atomically thin 2D materials systems, exploring their application as a new class of optoelectronic devices, and integrating their optical functions into Si photonics for information processing.
Asst Prof Guangwei Hu Nanyang Technological University Singapore
Talk Title: Computational Flat-optics to Innovate the Imaging Technologies
Abstract:
Flat-optics harvests the strong light-matter interactions in subwavelength nanostructures to fully manipulate the light properties, allowing the integration of multiple functions in a single and compact device. Here, I will briefly review the principles of computational flat-optics, where the flat-optics can facilitate the flexible design of the multidimensional transfer function of an optical system. After that, I will discuss its applications in advanced imaging technologies, particularly in bio-imaging and detections.
Bio:
Dr. Guangwei Hu is the Nanyang Assistant Professor in School of Electronic and Electric Engineering, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He received BSc from Harbin Institute of Technology in 2016, PhD from National University of Singapore in 2020 (during which he was a visiting scholar in UT Austin and CUNY ASRC), and the postdoctoral training in NUS and Stanford University. His research interest is nanophotonics and flat-optics for broad applications including bio-imaging, computations, photonic chips, energy and others. He has published more than 100 papers, including Nature (4), Science, Nature Photonics (2), e-Light, Nature Nanotechnology/Electronics/Communications, Science Advances, PRL and many others. His work has been featured as the Top 10 Breakthrough in Physics of 2020 by Physics World, Optics and Photonics News (Year of Optics in 2021), China’s Top 10 Breakthrough in Optics in 2021, and many others. He received Early Career Awards in Nanophotonics (2023), MIT Technology Reviews, Innovators Under 35 of 2022 (China), Forbes 30 Under 30 of 2023 (Asia), the 20th Anniversary Challenge Award from Optica Foundation, Rising Star of Light in 2020 by Light: Science & Applications, NUS President’s Graduate Fellowships and various other awards. He is an associate editor of npj nanophotonics.
Dr Jia Lianxi Director LightIC Technologies
Talk Title: Silicon Photonics-Based FMCW LiDAR and Its Commercialization
Abstract:
FMCW LiDAR offers the capability to measure speed in addition to distance, setting it apart from TOF LiDAR - a distinction that is crucial in certain application scenarios. In this presentation, I will introduce our LARK series, a line of products leveraging FMCW technology. These solutions deliver high-precision, 4D imaging of the surrounding environment for automotive applications. Additionally, thanks to silicon photonics, they achieve a compact form factor without sacrificing performance.
Bio:
Dr. Jia Lianxi has extensive experience in silicon photonics processing and device development, having worked at Institute of Microelectronics of Singapore, where he specialized in silicon photonics processes and devices. He is now joining LightIC, where he will lead the development for FMCW technology.
Dr Luo Xianshu VP, Advanced Photonics Platform Technology & Principal Scientist NSTIC & Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR
Talk Title: Next-generation Multi-material System via Photonics Heterogenous Integration (PHI)
Abstract:
As an enabling technology, silicon photonics has been explored for various application. For instance, silicon photonics based optical transceiver which features the advantages of high-speed and low-cost have been introduced in the market over the past decade with the aggregated data rate increase from 10 Gbps till nowadays 800 Gbps. As of today, silicon photonics transceiver with 400 Gbps data rate has already been deployed while transceiver with 800 Gbps data rate already started the sampling. However, giving the intrinsic material limitation, the conventional silicon photonics technology may see the technical bottleneck, such as the limitation of silicon photonic modulator with the trade-off among optical loss, modulation efficiency, modulation speed, etc. Thus, in order to further push the technology forward, we envision for the next generation photonics technology with multiple materials integrated system is required with enhanced device performance and optical functionalities. In this talk, we will discuss how we may pursue next-generation photonics technology through photonics heterogenous integration by integrating various photonics materials into silicon platform, such as III/V, Lithium Niobate, etc. We will review the state-of-the-art demonstration and also discuss our development along this direction.
Bio:
Dr. Luo has 14-year experiences on the silicon photonics integration technology and product development starting from IME, A*STAR as Research Scientist and then in AMF as Co-Founder and Research Manager / Research Director. He returned IME, A*STAR as Principal Scientist in 2023, and also appointed as VP, Advanced Photonics Platform Technology (APPT) in National Semiconductor Translation and Innovation Centre (NSTIC). He is leading the development of next-generation advanced photonics technologies, such as photonic heterogenous integration. Dr. Luo is the Fellow of Optica Society, Fellow of A*STAR, Senior Member of IEEE, and Member of SPIE and Project Management Institute. He is now serving as the Associate Editors for Optica Photonics Research. He has also been serving as the Technical Committee Chair / Co-Chair / Member for various international conferences. Dr. Luo has authored/co-authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal and conferences papers, 5 book chapters, and holds more than 30 patents and patent applications.
Dr Louis Martin-Monier Scientist and Technologist Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Talk Title: Nanophotonic Approaches for Enhanced Biomedical Imaging and Diagnostics
Abstract:
Nanotechnology and particularly metasurfaces are well positioned to deliver the next quantum leap in imaging performance. This talk introduces two new ways to improve biomedical imaging with metasurfaces, for both endoscopy and X ray imaging. In a first demonstration, we demonstrate a miniature endoscopic imaging system that leverages bi-layer metasurfaces to address significant limitations in surgical imaging. With a sub-millimeter diameter, this endoscope combines a wide field of view (FOV) with a large depth of field (DOF), along with precise aberration correction, enabling high-resolution RGB imaging in an ultra-compact form. By employing point spread function (PSF) engineering, it overcomes the limited DOF that surgeons often find challenging in procedures requiring precision over variable focal ranges, such as laparoscopic surgery and ENT interventions, while maintaining a field of view up to 170°. The second demonstration focuses on a novel approach to X-ray imaging using nanophotonic scintillators, which can enhance imaging signal by up to a factor of six. This technique integrates highly ordered nanostructures in close contact with the scintillator surface, increasing out-coupling efficiency through optimized impedance matching and tailored scattering profile. This innovation promises reduced dose requirements and increased throughput in medical X-ray imaging.
Bio:
Louis Martin-Monier is a scientist and technologist specializing in cutting-edge biomedical imaging technologies. As a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, his work focuses on developing wide field-of-view and large depth-of-field color imaging for miniature endoscopy, which promises to greatly enhance diagnostic accuracy and improve patient outcomes. His research also includes advancing X-ray imaging technologies through the fabrication of nanophotonic scintillators, which can reduce radiation exposure by up to an order of magnitude without compromising image quality. Additionally, Louis contributes to the development of OCT-on-a-chip systems, which integrate on-chip sources and spectrometers to enable portable, high-resolution optical coherence tomography for medical diagnostics. His research is supported by a Swiss National Science Foundation Fellowship and has been published in top academic journals.
Dr Diana Mojahed Founder & CEO Lightfinder
Talk Title: Chip-Scale Photonics: Enabling the Future of Precision Sensing and Imaging Across Industries
Abstract:
Recent advancements in integrated photonics have enabled the miniaturization of high-performance spectral analysis tools for diverse applications across healthcare, environmental monitoring, and industrial automation. Amongst this progress is the Digital Fourier Transform (dFT) spectrometer, a breakthrough in miniaturization that provides high-resolution, real-time spectral analysis in a compact form factor. This chip-scale dFT leverages Fourier Transform principles to achieve robust sensitivity and resolution while significantly reducing the size and cost of traditional spectrometers. Such innovations in chip-scale photonics are paving the way for accessible, high-performance sensing and imaging
Bio:
Dr. Diana Mojahed is the Founder and CEO of Lightfinder, an MIT spinout focused on advancing chip-based spectroscopy and imaging technologies. Previously a Postdoctoral Fellow in the lab of Professor Juejun (JJ) Hu at MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Dr. Mojahed blends cutting-edge research with entrepreneurial vision to push the boundaries of optical technology. An expert in optical coherence tomography (OCT), Dr. Mojahed earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, where she developed novel imaging solutions for rapid diagnostic applications. Her work has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), MIT Kavanaugh Fellowship, and the Columbia BiomedX Technology Accelerator Program, and she has received awards such as Best Presentation at the Women in Science at Columbia Symposium and the SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship.
Mr Ramana Pamidighantam CTO & Co-founder LightSpeed Photonics
Talk Title: Electrical, Stress, Thermal and Optical Performance (E-STOP) Analysis of Multi interposer Co-Packaged Optical Processor
Abstract:
Co-packaged Optics-FPGA is one of the solutions addressing the major concerns in latency, bandwidth and energy efficiency while further improving space efficiency and scalability. However, it introduces challenges in electrical, optical mechanical and thermal design. 3D stacking of dies of different functions enables performance. Interconnect complexity is high in 3D stacking compared to 2.5D stacking. The development of FPGA-Memory-Optics-Power integration as a Three Layer System In Package (SiP) module is presented in this manuscript. The SiP is configured as a hexagon to allow more processors to be interconnected optically with a side of 45mm and a total height of 27 mm and provides more I/O channels. The SiP consists of a high performance sub-layer with two FPGAs and 36 optical Tx/Rx lanes at upto 28 Gbps each. The second-sub-layer hosts 16 DDR4 chips at 2GB/s, a system controller, PCI switch, clock IC, temp and fan control and other components. The third sub layer houses all the power supply with 184 Watts capability giving six outputs. The total SiP houses76 ICs and is a modular design for multiple applications giving us flexibility to configure each sub-layer independently. In this talk, an integrated analysis of stress, thermal and optical design, iterative design optimization between temperature, electrical power, stress and optical coupling for a complex three layer SiP is described with results.
Bio:
Ramana Pamidighantam (SM IEEE) has close to 40 years of experience in Government R&D, Academics, and Industry after his Masters Degree in Applied & Modern Optics in 1984. He is the Chief Technology Officer and Director at Lightspeed Photonics Pte Ltd., Singapore. Prior to that he was Dean (R&D) and Professor, ECE in India where he was a consultant to a number of companies in India and Singapore. He is the Founder Vice Chair and served as Chapter Chair for IEEE Photonics Society, Hyderabad, India Chapter. He started his career with Defence Research Organization, India, in 1986, where he had significant contribution developing strap-down and gimbal mounted onboard opto-electronic guidance systems. He moved to Singapore in 1998 and worked at Philips, Agilent Technologies and A*STAR IME in opto-electronic semiconductors. Ramana has more than 25 patents and 60 international publications.
Dr Sajay B G Senior Scientist Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR
Talk Title: Scalable, High-Performance, Co-Packaged Optical Engines powering AI/ML and Next-Gen Data Centers
Abstract:
With the increase in data volumes and the evolution of data center architectures, the demand for high-performance optical transceivers is rapidly growing. We have developed an innovative heterogeneous packaging platform for optical engines that addresses requirements for cost, performance, and compact form factor, while supporting higher data rates. This platform utilizes a fan-out wafer-level packaging approach, enabling high-bandwidth electrical interconnects offering advantages over monolithic integration. This supply-chain-friendly approach seamlessly integrates individually optimized discrete components such as silicon photonics ICs (PICs), electronic ICs (EICs), and III-V semiconductor laser sources into a single package.
Bio:
Dr. Sajay BG is a Senior Scientist at the Institute of Microelectronics, A*STAR, Singapore. He has over 18 years of experience in the semiconductor industry and research. He holds a Ph.D. in Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Microelectronics) from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and a Master's degree in Mechatronics from the National University of Singapore. Prior to joining IME, Dr. Sajay worked with several renowned companies, including STATS ChipPAC Ltd, Hewlett-Packard Ltd, and Siltronic Singapore Pte Ltd. In these roles, he was involved in advanced technologies such as wafer-level packaging and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS). At IME, Dr. Sajay's research is focused on electronic-photonic heterogeneous integration and semiconductor system-in-package technology. He works on developing next-generation optical transceiver technologies that support the growth in data traffic, particularly in the fields of hyper-scale data centres and AI-ML clusters.
Assoc Prof Dawn Tan Singapore University of Technology and Design
Talk Title: Nonlinear CMOS Photonics On A Chip
Abstract:
We report recent progress on nonlinear integrated photonics implemented on the ultra-silicon-rich nitride (USRN) platform. Advances in Bragg soliton dynamics and topological photonics which leverage USRN’s high nonlinear figure of merit are reported. We demonstrate topological nonlinear parametric amplification as well as Kerr induced delocalization of the topological mode.
Bio:
Dawn Tan is an Associate Professor at the Singapore University of Technology and Design and Principal Investigator of the Photonics Devices and Systems Group. She holds a joint appointment as Principal Scientist at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics. Her group’s research encompasses integrated optics, nonlinear optics and silicon photonics. She was previously a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and part of the design team at Luxtera. She is an Optica Fellow, L'Oréal for Women in Science National Fellow and a National Research Foundation (NRF) Investigator, Class of 2023.
Dr Akira Ueno Principal Researcher AGC
Talk Title: Glass-based Optical Components and Fabrication Technologies for Integrated Photonics Applications
Abstract:
With their superior optical and mechanical properties, glasses are expected to see increasing applications in integrated photonics and silicon photonics. However, high-performance glass optical devices tend to require complex and fine structures. Therefore, advanced fabrication technologies for glass would be necessary for these applications. To address this issue, we have successfully developed a rapid and high aspect ratio etching technique for glass using catalysts. The fabrication of vertical with smooth-sidewall deep microstructures was demonstrated in the catalyst-covered area on SiO2 at a processing rate of 1.3 μm/min, 2–3 times faster than the conventional dry etching method. This presentation will introduce fabrication demonstrations of glass-based optical devices and waveguides with our new etching technique.
Bio:
Akira Ueno is principal researcher at AGC Inc. He earned a BS, an MS at Tohoku University and a Ph.D at Hiroshima University, all in engineering. He also worked as a visiting scientist in Photonic Materials Research Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2022-2024. His current research focuses on glass-based integrated photonics and metasurfaces with machine learning.
Dr Wang Qian Principal Scientist Institute of Materials Reseach and Engineering, A*STAR
Talk Title: Applications of Chalcogenide Phase-Change Materials in Nanophotonic Devices
Abstract:
Chalcogenide phase-change materials, with their memory retention and multi-step phase transitions, are promising for tunable nanophotonic systems in imaging, communication, and sensing. Our study examines multi-level optical phase changes in Germanium-antimony-tellurium induced by femtosecond laser pulses. Sub-microscale pixelated transitions between amorphous and crystalline states lead to major optical property shifts. Demonstrated applications include high-density data storage, re-writable photonic metamaterials, reconfigurable phase-change photomasks, and multi-step tuning of third harmonic generation. Such reconfigurable PCMs offer potential advancements in next-generation photonics, such as all-optical neuromorphic computing, adaptive optics, and imaging systems.
Bio:
Dr. Qian Wang received her Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University and subsequently held an A*STAR International Fellowship at the Optoelectronics Research Centre, University of Southampton. She currently leads a group at IMRE focused on advancing nanoimaging and defect inspection technologies. Her research interests include metamaterials, non-volatile phase-change materials, near-field manipulation of plasmonics and phonon polaritons, and all-optical neuromorphic computing.
Assoc Prof Guangya Zhou National University of Singapore
Talk Title: MEMS Tunable Photonic Devices and Their Applications
Abstract:
This talk focuses on the integration of Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) technology with photonics to achieve on-chip integrated dynamically tunable photonic devices with enhanced performance and functionality. Such devices feature small footprint, large dynamic tuning range, extremely low power consumption, and are attractive to a wide range of applications. I will introduce some of our work on MEMS tunable photonic devices, including MEMS photonic switches, MEMS optical phase shifters, MEMS based on-chip micro spectrometers, MEMS based photonic mode converters/switches, and MEMS tunable photonic microcavities.
Bio:
Prof. Zhou received the B.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in optical engineering from Zhejiang University, China. He is currently an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at NUS. His research covers micro-optics, optical MEMS, micro and nano fabrication, microsensors and microactuators, nano photonics, and novel optical imaging and spectroscopy. He is the main inventor of several patents including the MEMS-driven vibratory grating scanner, MEMS-based miniature zoom lens system with autofocus function, and high throughput single-pixel spectrometers. The technologies developed in his lab has successfully led to two start-up companies. He is an associated editor of the International Journal of Optomechatronics and is on editorial board of Scientific Reports and MDPI Actuators. He is also an international steering committee member and technical programme committee member of several international conferences in the field of optical MEMS as well as micro and nano technology.